Heart treatments as safe for women as men

Women who undergo bypass surgery or balloon angioplasty to improve blood flow to the heart have essentially the same survival rate as men, a large study shows.

Previous research had suggested that women might have a significantly higher risk of complications and death from procedures such as coronary artery bypass surgery and angioplasty.

Officials at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the study, said the findings show that the two treatments are just as safe and effective for women as for men. Heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women in the United States.

The new study is based on data from more than 1,800 heart disease patients in the largest clinical trial comparing bypass surgery with angioplasty. The main finding of that research, reported in 1996, was that both procedures are effective, with similar mortality rates.

The new analysis found that 87 percent of the women in the study were alive five years after undergoing either bypass surgery or angioplasty - nearly identical to the 88 percent survival rate among men. The immediate survival rate from the procedures in the hospital also was similar for both men and women.